All Forum Posts by: Alana Reynolds

Hello I am Alana! 

I am looking at buying my grandmothers house as a potential flip or Brrr.

it is located in Pikesville MD Baltimore MD. 

fixed up it may be worth $250,000.

It needs a total rehab including AC , and plumbing . The house is 1,332 sq ft. 

i am working on rehab estimates but may be 50k to 75k needed. 

I want to have a few different offers to present to my grandmother and help relieve her of this house, its her biggest burden. That and money. 

my idea is to offer a seller financing deal. Something like $2k down $115k total

3 yr amorization 

I am not sure what interest rate to say or other parts of the offer. How much should I offer to pay monthy that will make it a good deal but help with her money problems? And different ideas so she has a couple offers to choose from . 

Also, do you have recomendations for financing on the rehab side? I was thinking I could go to local banks but I dont have an account with them so I am not so sure they would give me good options to lend money. 

thanks in advance I look forward to your thoughts on this!

Quote from @Jocelyn Kaufman:

Wow, that is amazing! I was in your situation about 2 years ago. I put a lot of work into a property that was a mother-in-law single-family home and I was able to really showed the property's value. I wanted to expand and I looked into doing a cash out refi or selling. I ended up selling the property and using a 1031 exchange into a 10 unit building. It has now snowballed into 49 rental units in just 2 years. Sometimes it is scary to sell or it sucks to sell something you have worked so hard in but if you can turn it into something bigger, why not? 

On the other hand, if you are able to get a cash-out refi and you can stay in positive cash flow you can keep your current property and still expand. That may be a good option to look into as well. 

I hope this helped! 

-Jocelyn :)

Thats amazing that you were able to grow so fast! I researched tje 1031 exchange and it doesnt look like my property qualifies, does the laws accociated with it vary by state?  It does not seem like I can turn the sell of the house into something bigger according to a realtor in that area. I found him on bigger pockets and its sounds like a pre approval of 400k will only get me a single family in my desired locations. Maybe i need to check out different areas and think out of the box more! 

Quote from @Dock Newell Jr:

Sounds like you have done an amazing job! Im on the keep side. Is your husband military? Did you buy the home with a VA loan? You have a ton of options but sounds like most of them as a begining investor is on the keep side.

Personally i would keep it, use the VA loan to buy a four-plex, and house hack. With that strategy youll have tons of cashflow and reuse the va loan a year later or fha.

Good luck!

We are both military, and have both already used the va loans. I spoke to a realtor and they said that multifamily properties are being bought by cash offers and a VA offer would be ignored. So I think I will have to house hack a single family 

Quote from @Carl Davis:

As a military investor myself, I would probably sell this property. Knowing that you would be able to restore your VA entitlement fully with more liquid capital could put you in a great position to buy a multi-family property in FL and have cash for other, maybe out of market investments.

However if you did want to keep it for sentimental reasons i.e. family in the area or plan to live there after separating you could use the Navy Federal homebuyers choice loan which is another 0 down loan option military members have access to. Although a little higher interest rate still a great tool. You can purchase up to 2 unit property with it and then still have VA entitlement left over.

I spoke to a realtor in Jacksonville and he bluntly informed me that sellers are not even reading VA offers! Also that multifamilies are being purchased by cash buyers. It sounds to me like I don't have enough funds to purchase a multifamily even if I do sell or it would take a long time to find one to accept my non cash offer

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

Quote from @Adah N.:

@Joe Villeneuve

Why sell?

When you subtract taxes and insurance from the 800 cash flow, this is probably negative or very little cf. The value is in the equity, but cashed out and moved to a property with much better cf

 Taxes and insurance are included in the 1400 a month expense. The 800 can go straight to reserves for any big repairs that come up or reinvested. In this case, would you still sell?

Quote from @Jossalyn Wallace:

How much did you put into the rehab and what is your left on your note? 

A heloc or cash out refi can be great if you're holding but remember it may change your qualifying power to purchase something else. In this case I would compare what I could purchase with the profits vs what holding onto this would like like financially. Could you purchase more homes or multifamily if you sold, in a higher appreciation area and make the same on rents? Jacksonville is a great market so I would try and capitalize on it as much as you can. 

We have put in around 70k and owe about 180k. The realtor I spoke to said multifamiles are being purchased by cash buys and I am looking at getting only a single family in Jacksonville. I am open to getting a single family and making into a multi if the zoning allows it but I am told that the desirable areas i am interested in don't. So why trade a single family for just another single family when I could potentially keep the Jersey house, earn cash flow, and also buy a single family in Jacksonville to house hack ? I am trying to justify it, maybe I have to find a multifamily in a less desirable area? Or zoning that allows the conversion of a sfh. Know any realtors within a 45 min radius of Hitron airstation?? Pre approved when keeping the house for 275k. Taxes and insurance are included in the 1400 a month mortgage. House could rent for 2200. 

@Doug Spence 

Thanks, I think so too.

I am wondering if I can both keep the house and purchase a multifamily as well. I am going to start doing research on the Jacksonville area and see what the multifamilies are going for. I have a pre qual for 275k and if I rent out the house I can show the lease to count the rental income for a bigger pre approval. 

The interest rate on the mortgage is currently VERY low 2.3 percent I believe. A refi would not be a good way to go because it would still make the va loan for a lessor amount because of the debt, regardless of what loan it is.

Yes we had used the VA loan! If we keep the house we are approved for 275k with left over VA benefits. The issue is that may not be enough to buy a multifamily to house hack

Hello! I am having trouble deciding on selling or keeping my house in Jersey that my husband and I have been living in since 2020. We have made major improvments, new roof, windows, kitchen total rehab granite countertops and added bedroom. Purchased for 180,000 and now it may be worth 275,000 or more

I like the buy and hold rental stradegy and want to keep it and rent it for 2200 a month. The mortgage is 1400. Its in Northfield NJ. Great neighborhood. Solid house 3 bd 1.5 bath. 

my hubby wants to sell, he received orders to Jacksonville FL and we could buy a multifamily with the proceeds from the house. 

I want long term growth. I was thinking of getting a Heloc and keeping . Pros cons? 

Buy or sell?

thanks!

Hello BP community! 

I am planning on house hacking my home and I need a generic lease for a roommate that I can edit to my liking. Does anyone have a word file they are willing to share? 

I actually found a post that someone sent a link to a great free roommate lease agreement. It can be found here : https://caretaker.com/roommate...